The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1887-07-07

better had she left me to perish-me the
miserable outcast, thrown into the out
skirts Of the village common, as they
throw the rest Of the refuse and the
filth.
And / grew up with the vague inn
preston that / carried about me q
stain; a something to be ashamed of.
One day one of the other children
called me bastard |! He did not; it is
true, know the meaning Of the word,
caught from the lips Of the Oldest ones
at home, o at the time did L but in
stinctively, as it were, I understood
and felt the insult. I was, though l
say it myself, one Of the most intelli-
gent scholars of the school, and I would
have been, Mons. President, an honest,
perhaps q superior had not my
parents committed the crime of aban-
doning me. I was the victim; they the
culprits; I was defenseless.
THEY WITHOUT PITY
And when I needed them most they re-
iected me. lowed them, it is true, the
gift of life. but was life such as mine a
boon to be thankful forP No it was
a misfortune, and after the shameless
ness of my abandonment did / owe
them aught but vengeance, vengeance
for an act the most inhuman, infamous
and monstrous, that it is possible for
n being to perpetrate against anoth-
er ? ~
"a man insulted returns the blow;
a man robbed. retakes his goods by
force if necessary a man deceived,
played with and m%artyr.zed. kills a
man dishonored AMI slapped in the
face, kills also. l WAS more than de-
ceived, slapped in the face, robbed and
dishonored, provocations, all of them,
which, the law admits to be punishable.
But / am avenged, for i have killed
tllem-taken. from them, as it was my
legitimate right to lake from them,
their life of happiness in exchange for
the shameful one which they had inn
posed upon me. You speak of it as q
parricide, but can you call them par
ents, those people to whom I was a
burden intolerable, a spot of infamy !;
to whom my birth was a calamity, my
life q constant menac of shame
They yielded to selfish pleasure-they
found Nemesis. But for all that, and I
say it truthfully, I was prepared and
ready to love them.
1T is two years, as I have told you,
since that man, my father, entered my
place for the first time. I suspected
nothing. He came ostensibly to order
some furniture; but he had learned my
history from the Cure Il learned this
later o%n-under the seal of the pro-
foundest secrecy. He returned fire.
quently. always bringing me work to
do for him, and paying we'll. . At the
same time he talked a little of one
thing or another, and I soon
BEGAN TO EEL AN AFFECTION
For him. At the beginning of the year
he brought bis wife with him, my
mother. When she entered she trem-
bled SO violently that I supposed her to
be the victim of some nervous malady.
I gave her a seat and a glass of water,
but she never spoke ave to answer
yes or mo- as my father appealed to
her, and looked about her in a fright
ened, bewildered way. When she de-
parted I truly believed her q little GRAZ
ed.
1.-THE following month, however they
returned-she calm and perfect mis-
tress of herself. They remained that
day long enough to chat awhile, and to
give me the details of an order Twas to
fill for them Immediately. They came
in this way three or four times, still
without my suspecting anything. At
last, one day she began to question me
of my childhood and my parents.
":My parents, madame / replied,
with bitterness, were miserable
wretches who abandoned me-
"At my words, she staggered, turn
ed pale, and, with a low moan, fell to
the floor unconscious. Then, and then
only, I OWNED the truth. 1t was my
mother. Yes I. said to myself, my
mother; but I must be careful not to
let her see that l suspect it I wished
to see if she would come again; also,
what she intended to do.
lin the mean time / sought for in
formation myself, and learned that
Mons and his wife had been mar
ried in July of the preceding year;
that my mother was a widow Of three
years. standing at the time of the mar
riage, and that ~
GOSSIP CONNECTED HER NAME
With that of my father, her present
husband, during the lifetime of the
first, but there had been 40 proofs. /,
however, knew better-I was the proof
which they had from the first conceal
ed and striven to destroy.
II waited, and one evening she re-
turned, accompanied, as usual, by my
father. This day-why can not tell
y%on--she was strongly moved, and said
to me in going away:
" You seem to be an honest boy.
Mons. Georges, and a skillful work
man. I wish you we'll, as you will
some day think of taking to yourself a
wife, I would like to aid you in the
only way I can to the choice of one
that will suit you. Twas married once
myself against the dictates Of my
heart, and I know what suffering it is.
Now I am rich, childless. free and
mistress of my own fortune; here is
your dot and she handed me q heavy
envelope.
So" l answered, without touching
the paper, and looking her straight in
the eyes, $50 it is true; you are my
motherr
She recoiled as If I had struck her,
and would have fallen again If my
father had not caught her in his arms.
lyon are mad he cried; you have
lost your senses!'
Not ut all, I responded. 1 know
well thateyon are my parents. ! Nave
felt 1t for some time; but avow it to me,
admit it frankly, andI will continue to
guard the secret, to guard it with
my life, for I do not wish to be recog.
nized. nor to be other than I am, q sim.
pie maker Of furniture; but admit it
only tell me that you are my parents!'